Having had such a fantastic result at the Camberley festival early in the season, the boys were really enthusiastic and eager to start their first match. Not even the size of the Guildford opposition, or the fact that Guildford had given them an extremely hard game at their last encounter, could curb their excitement.

The boys were however able to focus their energy into an extremely disciplined game of rugby. Both sides played some solid rugby with some fantastic defensive play. The physicality that all members of the Farnham team displayed shows how far they have developed since the start of the season – coaches, take a bow!

Farnham took their excellent tackling into the second game against Camberley, which proved to be an equally bruising encounter. Throughout the whole of this game you felt that Farnham were always on top and the most likely team to score, but it took until injury time in the second half for James Robinson, without the need for a characteristic dummy, to go over in the corner. A hard fought and well deserved win.

Reeds once again fielded some players who would not have looked out of place in the Under 13’s, but despite the physical advantage they had over our boys, they only just managed to beat us.

The game against Chobham was perhaps where the boys were able to break out of their strong defensive play and show some of their attacking flair, scoring three tries in the process. In previous games we had not perhaps been able to pass the ball through our hands quickly enough and get it to our faster players on the wings in space, but in this game we were able to see the pace that Ben Walters and Joel Westerman in particular have. Max Fosket was able to use his strength to bustle his way over the line after the forwards had won several phases of play and Joel with his pace and masey running style, crossed the line twice.

Cobham had shown us their class when we hosted them in a triangular earlier in the season and once again we found it difficult to stay with them. What the Farnham boys showed however was great spirit – exemplified by Max Campbell Harris performing a crunching tackle (taking one for the team!) against the largest player on the field.

Whilst a loss in the last match is always difficult to take, the boys should take a lot of credit for the way they played throughout the day. The basics that any rugby team needs is a strong defense and the boys proved extremely hard to break down. With the same defensive qualities, a little more luck and perhaps one or two extra passes, two good wins could easily become four exceptional wins in the next tournament! Bring it on!